A FRENCH park has been ordered to tear down a statue of the Virgin Mary or risk being fined every day.

The area of Publier, in the Haute-Savoie region in the east of the country, has been told they have three months to remove the religious statue from a public park.

An administrative court has ordered the figure be removed, or the local authority will be fined €100 (£84) for every day it remains.

The order, made on November 24, follows a national ruling in France banning all religious symbols in public.

Town mayor Gaston Lacroix has insisted he will find a new home for the soon-to-be-banned statue “on private land”.

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The icon was installed in 2011 using council funds - but the council did not hold a debate over its installation.

In a bid to quell the following storm that surrounded its installation, it was sold to a religious cultural association.

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People on social media were left divided over the decision

But they were unable to buy the land it stands on, meaning it is still on public property and in breach of French laws.

The latest move by the French courts has attracted criticism from the National Front, with far-right politician Jacques Clostermann calling it a “new tyranny”.

People on social media were left divided over the decision, with one person saying: “France isn't really a religious country. Especially 40 and under, religion is dead there.”